Clock mechanism



Aug. 30, 1932.

6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 25. 1929 s W m fig W I M m fi W 6 n I W g 7 6 I M 7 H I I 3 6 I M 9 Z \\.,I w, @M 6 9 H W M I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I l I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I s. PI RENSZNER CLOCK MECHANISM Aug. 30; 1932.

Filed March 23, 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 AT ORNEY;

Aug. 30, 1932. s. PRENSZNER CLOCK MECHANISM Filed March 23. 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 age 077622 flma nm wv gig, ATTORNEYJ Aug. 30, 1932.

' S. PRENSZNER CLOCK MECHANISM Filed March 23, 1929 5 M w 4 mm w my M W m Aug. 30, 1932. s. PRENSZNER CLOCK MECHANISM Filed March 23, 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet '5 n u Illl Ill-IIIIIIIIIIIII n ATTORNEY-5 S. PRENSZNER CLOCK MECHANISM Aug. 30, 1932.

Filed March 23, 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR. 656 1771 e72 5 212.71 {7)267 BY A TTORNEYS Patented Aug. 30, 1932 UNITED STATES STEPHEN PRENSZNER, OF CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY CLOCK MECHANISM Application filed March 23, 1929. Serial No. 849,489.

This invention relates to clocks and has special reference to a calendar clock arranged to display, in addition to the usual hour and minute indications, day of the week, day of the month and year indications.

It is well known that many calendar clocks are arranged with wheels geared to the hour and minute trains for driving wheels giving the indications mentioned but, when such wheels are geared directly to the time train (hour and minute train), they turn constantly so that it is frequent that parts of two adjacent indications are displayed thus leading to confusion.

One important object of the present invention is to provide an improved calendar clock construction wherein, by novel mechanism, the day, month and year wheels are advanced from one indication to the next in a few seconds so that proper display of the indications will be made substantially at all times.

A second important object of the invention is to provide a novel construction of such a clock whereby the day, month and year wheels will be driven from the alarm train of a clock having time and alarm trains.

A third important object of the invention is to provide a novel construction in such a clock whereby the day-of-the-month wheel may be disengaged from the driving train to enable it to be shifted manually for months having less than thirty-one days.

A fourth important object of the invention is to provide a novel construction wherein disengagement of the day-of-the-month wheel from the driving train also effects its disengagement from the day-of-the-week wheel so that the day-of-the-month wheel may be adjusted without affecting the dayof-the-week wheel.

A fifth important object of the invention is to provide a novel construction whereby the day-of-the-week wheel may be adjusted without affecting the position of the day-ofthe-month wheel.

cWith the above and other objects in view as will be hereinafter apparent, the invention consists in general of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically claimed.

In the accompanying drawings like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views, and:

Figure 1 is a front view of the clock with the casing removed.

Figure 2 is a rear view thereof with the back frame plate removed.

Figure 3 is a view showing the upper part 60 of Figure 1 with the month wheel removed to show the parts behind.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail section on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is an elevation from the left side of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is an elevation showing the upper part of the device from the right of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a view showing one of the adjusting buttons and its dial.

Figure 9 is a section on the line 99 of Figure 6.

Figure 10 is a detail showing the trip mechanism in locked position.

Figure 11 is a view similar to Figure 10 showing the trip mechanism at the instant of release.

Figure 12 is a view similar to Figure 10 showing the trip mechanism ready to relock.

Figure 13 is a front view of the complete clock.

In the embodiment of the invention here illustrated there is disclosed a clockwork mechanism having two separate trains of wheels, one of these trains being the usual driving train for the hour and minute hands and the other train being the train usually employed for sounding an alarm and here designated, for purposes of convenience though it is not actually used to sound an alarm, the alarm train. The main or time train is driven by a spring 10 which rotates a shaft 11 carrying a main driving wheel 12. This main driving wheel actuates the usual hour and minute train 13 having the ordinary escapement 14 and balance wheel 15.

since any desired arrangement may be used. The dial '17 is exposed through a suitable opening in a casing 18 having on its front anopening 19 for the display of the of the month, opening 20 for the display of the day of the week, an opening 21 for thename of the month, and an opening 22 for the display of the year date. Also I preferably provide onthe front .of this casing a thermometer 23. Turning now to those parts of the construction which deal particularly with theinvention it will beseen that there is provided a second spring 24 which rotatesa staff 25 carrying a wheel 26 which meshes with a lantern wheel 27 mounted on a staff '28. Fixed on this staff 28 is'also a star wheel 29 which is engaged by the pallets of an escapement 30 having a long arm 31' which extends down hehind the wheel 12. Also a wheel 32 fixed on a staff 33 meshes with the lantern wheel 27 and is'driven thereby. On the staff 33 is a pinion 34 which meshes with a gear 35 fixed on a staff 36. Also there is fixed on the staff 36 a ratchet disk 37 having in its periphery a series of notches 38 as may 'be best seen by reference to Figures 10, 11 and 12. Furthermore, thereris mounted on the staff 33 a second pinion 39 which meshes with a gear 40 fixed on a staff: 41 whereon is mounted a lantern wheel 42' meshing with a gear 43 which in turn meshes with an idler lantern 44. This lantern 44 also meshes with a gear 45 which meshes with an idler lantern 46 driving a gear 47 which in turn drives a lantern wheel 48 mounted on a staff 49. On this staff 49 is likewise-mounted a'pi-n'ion 50 which meshes with a large gear 51 having on itsface adj acent its periphery a series of indicia 52, said indicia being the numbers from one to thirtyone and the window 19 being so positioned that the uppermost'of these numbers is exposed through the window. This gear 51 is mounted on a staff 53 which is slidable toward and from the front of the casing and is urged rearwardly by a spring 54. Projecting through the back of the casing-this staff 53 is provided with an extension'55 carrying a button 56 by means of which the staff and wheel 51 may bepositioned forward to bringthe gear '51 out of mesh with the pinion 5'0 and thus allow said gearto be freely revolved independently of the driving train. At the upper part of the casing there is mounted a seven sided wheel "57 bearing the days of the week, this wheel being fixed ona staff 58 which projects through the top of the casing'and is provided with an adjusting button '59 by means of which it maybe lifted and rotated, a spring 60 holding it in lowered position. Also on the stafi 58 is a gear 61 which meshes with the gear 51 and the ratio between these two gears is such that for several complete revolutions of the gear 61 the gear 51 will rotate seven thirty-firsts of a complete revolution. The wheel 57 bears on its periphery indicia for .thedays of the week and the window 20 is positioned so that the foremost ofsuch indicia is displayed therethro-ugh. On the wheel :51 is mounted a pin 62 and on a staff 63 adjacent the wheel 51 there is mounted a twelve toothed star wheel 64 the teeth of which are successively engagecl'by'this pin so that every time the wheel 51 rotates once the star wheel will rotate one tooth. This star wheel is revoluble on. the staff 63' and carries a clutch plate :65 which'is forced against a disk 66 by means of a spring 67 housed in a casing 68 at the rear portion of the staff 63. Thus this disk may be-rotated independently of the star wheel but the spring 67 exerts sufficient friction tonor mally cause the disk to rotatewith the; star wheel. This disk 66fcar-ries adjacent its periphery month indicia 69 which are exposed through the window 21 and fixed to the star wheel is an arm 7 O engageable at each revolution of the star wheel with one of the teeth of a second star wheel 71 mounted on a staff 72 which is connected by gearing 73 with the shaft 74 of an ordinary four wheeled countermechanism '7 5 the wheels of which are partially exposed throughthe window 22, this counter-mechanism thus indicating the year and stepping up one number for each revolus tion of the star wheel 64.

Now considering Figures 10 to 12 it'wi'll be seen that normally the staff 36 is locked from rotation by the engagement of a pawl 76 carried on a staff '77 in one of the notches 38 as in Figure 10. Also, from the staff 77 an arm '78 projects to lie close to the wheel 12 which is driven by a suitable train from the wheel 12 to revolve once in 24 hours and which carries :a pin 79 engaging this arm on each revolution of the wheel sothat upon such engagement, as shown in Figure 11, the pawl? 6 is lifted clear of the notch 38 in whichit formerly engaged and upon further movement of the wheel 12 the pin 79 passes clear of the arm 7 8 and the pawl drops back to the position shown in Figure 11 ready'fo'r engagement in the next notch. From Figure 10*it will be seen that the pawl 76 engages the notch 38 when the escapement wheelhas one of its teeth ready to engage the lower pallet of the anchor'escapement but slightly spaced therefrom'so that release of the pawl'76 from said notch permits a slight forward'movement of the disk 37 to the position shown in Figure 11. It is furthermore to be noted that on the stafi 77 there is provided a spring 80,,which urges this pawl into its notch engaging position. Now, as previously explained, the staff '36 is con ected to the esc-apement staff 28 and cannot revolve unless this escapement stafi' revolves. Adjacent the free end of the arm 31 is a staff 81 from which extends a trip arm 82 which lies in the path of the pin 79 and there also extends from this stafi 81 a large arm having an end 83 which engages the arm 31 adjacent its free end and holds the arm in the position shown in Figure 10 so that it cannot oscillate to permit the escapement Wheel to rotate. After the pin 79 has passed the point of release for the pawl 7 Sit moves around until it approaches the position shown in Figure 12 at which time it engages the arm 82 and moves the stop arm 83 clear of the arm 31 so that the escapement wheel may now operate to rotate the ratchet disk 37 until the pawl 7 6 engages in the next notch 38. Since the gears for driving the day-ofthe-month Wheel are driven from the staff 36 it will be seen that by this arrangement the day-of-the-month wheel is shifted quickly at that particular time of day in which the pin 79 engages the arm 82 and thus the calendar is advanced one day in the short time it takes the Wheel 37 to revolve one quarter ofits revolution. It is to be noted that a spring 84 holds the stop arm 83 normally in engagement with the arm 31. Obviously, so long as the months have thirty-one days no adjustment is necessary but having a month with less than thirty-one days the day-of-the-month wheel is manipulated by the knob or thumb piece 56 to free it from the driving mechanism and from the day-of-the-Week Wheel and is then rotated to set it to the proper day of the month. That is to say, if the month has thirty days on the first day of the month the wheel will be advanced from its indication of thirty-one to its indication of one. Similarly, for February where the month has either twentyeight or twenty-nine days. If the clock is allowed. to run down it may then become necessary to set the day-of-the-week wheel which is accomplished by the thumb piece 59 and it may also possibly be required to change the position of the month wheel which is only frictionally engaged on its shaft or staif and it is obvious that this may be readily done.

There has thus been provided a simple and eflicient device of the kind described and for the purpose specified.

It is obvious that minor changes maybe made in the form and construction of the invention without departing from the material spirit thereof. It is not, therefore, desired to confine the invention to the exact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include all such as properly come within the scope claimed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is:

1. In a clock, the combination with a time train; of a normally idle alarm train, means controlled by the time train for temporarily releasing the alarm train for action once each day, a day-of-the-month wheel driven by the alarm train, means for temporarily disengaging said wheel from the alarm train to permit movement of said Wheel independently of said alarm train, and a day-of-thei week wheel geared to said day-of-the-month wheel, said means being arranged to disengage the day-of-the-month wheel from the day-of-the-week wheel simultaneously with the disengagement of the day-of-the-month wheel from the alarm train.

2. In a clock, the combination with a time train; of a normally idle alarm train, means controlled by the time train for temporarily releasing the alarm train for action once each day, a day-of-the-month wheel driven by the alarm train, means for temporarily disengaging said wheel from the alarm train to permit movement of said wheel independently of said alarm train, a day-of-the-week wheel geared to said day-of-the-month wheel, said means being arranged to disengage the dayof-the-month wheel from the day-of-theweek wheel simultaneously with the disengagement of the day-of-the-month wheel from the alarm train, and other means for disengaging the day-of-the-week wheel from the da -of-the-month wheel.

3. In a clock, an alarm train adapted for actuation once each day, a calendar mechanism driven by said alarm train and including a day of the month wheel, means for temporarily disengaging the day of the month wheel from said alarm train, and a day of the week wheel geared to the day of the month wheel, said means being arranged to disengage the day of the week wheel from the day of the month wheel simultaneously with the disengagement of the latter from said train.

4. In a clock, a calendar mechanism including a driving train, a day of the month wheel geared thereto, a day of the week wheel geared to the day of the month wheel, and means for simultaneously disengaging the first wheel from the train and the second wheel from the first.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

STEPHEN PRENSZNER. 

